Indonesia's embassy in Australia was closed today after receiving an envelope that officials feared contained a biological agent.
"The preliminary test suggested it was a biological agent and further tests are now being carried out," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told reporters.
John Howard, Australian Prime Minister
Australian Federal Police said the envelope was delivered to the embassy through the normal mail service and identified as suspicious by embassy staff. The Indonesian Ambassador to Australia was not inside the building.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said there were 22 staff inside the embassy who could be isolated for 48 hours. Australian Federal Police Superintendent Mick Kilfoyle said the staff were going through a "precautionary decontamination".
Yuri Thamrin, a spokesman for the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, said the sealed envelope contained white powder.
A biological agent is any bacteria, virus or toxin or material derived from them that can cause disease or harm to humans, animals or plants.
Australia's opposition Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said the Indonesian Ambassador Imron Cotan told him the envelope had been opened at the embassy and the substance spilled onto the floor. Cotan said there were 50 staff in the building.
Emergency services closed off the Indonesian embassy in the upmarket Canberra suburb of Yarralumla. It is surrounded by the French, Egyptian and US embassies.
The incident comes as an Australian citizen, Ms Schapelle Corby, 27, was sentenced to 20 years jail last Friday for smuggling 4.1 kg of marijuana into the resort island of Bali last October.
Howard said it would be a "remarkable coincidence" if the incident at the embassy was not related to the Corby case.
Corby's conviction sparked an emotional backlash in Australia, with the Indonesian embassy receiving threatening telephone calls and many Australians calling for a Bali boycott and a return of their Indonesian tsunami aid donations.